Novel 3: Dorian Gray and "the passion of the spectator"

In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian's reaction to news of Sibyl Vane's death reveals both Dorian's callous nature and the fact that he views his life as a spectator. In chapter VIII, Lord Henry asks Dorian about his meeting with Sibyl, saying, "did you make a scene with her?" (94). Clearly, Dorian and Lord Henry see life as play, something unreal to which they are not directly attached. Also, after Dorian discovers Sibyl's suicide, he tells Lord Henry, "how extraordinarily dramatic life is! If I had read all this in a book, Harry, I think I would have wept over it" (96). This insinuates that Dorian will not cry over Sibyl's death because he did not read it in a book; that Dorian would cry over something distanced from himself but not something in his own life reveals that art impacts Dorian more than his own life. Indeed, Dorian thinks that Sibyl's death is "simply like a wonderful ending to a wonderful play" (98). Even in the face of tragedy, Dorian still sees life in aesthetic terms and is only concerned with the beautiful; it seems as though Dorian must think of life this way in order for life to seem real.

Dorian's reaction also brings up many interesting questions about art and life. The fact that art feels more real than life to Dorian puzzles me. Why does Dorian prefer feeling like a spectator as opposed to a real participant in life? Throughout the novel, he behaves as though he is unattached to the happenings around him with no real emotional investments in them. Perhaps Dorian has been taught to hold aesthetic values over everything else by Lord Henry and can only appreciate happenings in those terms. Also, perhaps being unattached in this manner allows Dorian to carry on with his base pursuits without conscience or implication. Whatever reason, the effect is chilling as Dorian watches tragic events as they unfold with all of the passion and safety of an uninvolved observer.